Dr. Edward J. Sullivan and Lauren Throne ’10 Publish “A Case Study Fitting Queuing Line Models with Poisson Arrival Processes and Exponential Service Time Distributions,” in Proceedings of the Northeastern Association of Business Economics and Technology

Anyone who has ever waited in a line knows just how tedious it can be. Dr. Edward Sullivan, associate professor of business administration and economics, and Lauren Throne ’10 analyzed the waiting line problem for a coffee kiosk, formerly known as Cup O’Joe, on the campus of Lebanon Valley College. This faculty-student research project grew out of Sullivan’s Management Science course (BUS 383), where he teaches queuing (waiting) line models. Using observations collected at the site, Sullivan and Throne examined the flow of customers and fitted several waiting line models to the data to determine the economic efficiency of several systems. The study determined that the waiting line model adopted by the business was the most economically efficient system to use given their customer flow. However, while determining that the addition of second cashier would cut waiting time by half; the added cost could not be financially justified.

Lebanon Valley College® in Annville, Pa., welcomes 1,600 full-time undergraduates studying more than 30 majors, as well as self-designed majors.
Founded in 1866, LVC has graduate programs in athletic training, business, music education, physical therapy, and science education.
Annville is 15 minutes east of Hershey and 35 minutes east of Harrisburg; Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore are within two hours.